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'Fast and Furious' star's car doing over 160km per hour

A poster of actor Paul Walker is seen atop flowers and other mementos left by fans, at a memorial rally and car cruise to remember the "Fast and Furious" actor on December 8, 2013 in Santa Clarita, California, near the site of the fiery car crash in which Walker and friend Richard Rodas died on November 30.

Jan 04, 2014

LOS ANGELES - The car carrying late "Fast and Furious" star Paul Walker was doing over 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour when it crashed, nearly cutting the high-powered vehicle in half, coroners said Friday.

The 40-year-old actor's body was charred beyond recognition in the November 30 accident, they said in a report describing the burned-out wreckage in graphic detail.

The $400,000 2005 car was driven by Walker's friend Roger Rodas, who also died in the crash in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, where they had attended a charity event.

Neither man tested positive for alcohol or drugs including marijuana, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine, a coroner's report said, adding that autopsies were conducted on December 3, but toxicology results were only confirmed Friday.

"The driver was driving a red Porsche Carrera GT... at an unsafe speed, approximately 100-plus miles per hour," said the report, citing an investigator's account of the crash.

The report said Walker was found "wearing remnants of a black T-shirt, a pair of black jeans and a pair of gray boxer briefs" and was "lying supine in the passenger seat."

"The decedent was charred and in a pugilistic stance," it said, describing the posture of his body after the crash.

A coroner's spokesman said "pugilistic" described "how the muscles of the body contract due to the heat into a 'boxer-like' appearance."

The report said the driver lost control of the car "for unknown reasons," causing it to spin around and hit a curb, after which the driver's side of the Porsche struck a tree and then a light post.

"The force of those collisions caused the vehicle to spin 180 degrees and continue in an easterly direction. The passenger side of the vehicle then struck another tree and burst into flames," it said.

"The vehicle was totaled with major traffic collision damage all around, and it appeared that the vehicle was almost split in half," the report added, saying: "The majority of the vehicle was also charred."